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Tardigrades can survive in space[0]. > In September last year, a team of scientists launched a squad of tiny animals into space aboard a Russian satellite. Onc
by fbdab103 3y ago
Tardigrades can survive in space[0].
> In September last year, a team of scientists launched a squad of tiny animals into space aboard a Russian satellite. Once in orbit, the creatures were shunted into ventilated containers that exposed them to the vacuum of space. In this final frontier, they had no air and they were subjected to extreme dehydration, freezing temperatures, weightlessness and lashings of both cosmic and solar radiation. It’s hard to imagine a more inhospitable environment for life but not only did the critters survive, they managed to reproduce on their return to Earth.
[0] https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/tardigrades-become-first-animals-to-survive-vacuum-of-space https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/tardigrad...
- cmrdporcupine 3y agoYes, but. https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Engineering_Technology/Jupiter_s_radiation_belts_and_how_to_survive_them https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Engineering_Techn... The radiation around Jupiter is... really crazy. Like, not around-orbit-of-earth crazy, way worse.
- tessierashpool 3y agoDeinococcus radiodurans has enough radiation resistance to handle the trip from Mars to Earth (or vice versa). And that's just one we know about. We are very, very far from having ever performed an exhaustive catalog of all bacterial species, let alone one which determined the full range of bacterial radiation resistance.
- darklycan51 3y agoYes and I believe there was a study about them surviving reentry, and they didn't, regardless if they could survive in space
- cmrdporcupine 3y agoOne interesting thing I guess about Europa is that it doesn't really have much of an atmosphere, so I guess re-entry wouldn't be like re-entry to earth. On the other hand, landing on the surface of Europa doesn't get you much. There's likely several km of ice and insane intense radiation before there's possibly anything looking like a habitable zone for earth-life.
- fbdab103 3y agoCompared to decades/centuries in space hitched to a flying object, what's a few kilometers of ice?
- BurningFrog 3y agoI was more thinking fungal or bacterial spores. "Surviving" in harsh environments until they get somewhere nicer is their entire purpose, and they're very good at it.